Spanish F4: Luna Fluxá completes Jerez weekend on a positive, Florescu and Neto gain positions in Race 3
Luna Fluxá led the female drivers trio at Jerez ending the weekend on a high, finishing 12th in the final race, while Zoe Florescu Potolea showed encouraging pace despite some bad luck in the races. Maria Germano Neto continued her rookie season with a challenging weekend, still recovering some positions in Race 3.
Luna Fluxá completed the Jerez round of Spanish Formula 4 with a positive 12th-place finish in Race 3 after recovering from 19th on the grid. The Campos driver showed strong starts throughout the weekend and made steady progress when green-flag running was available, although numerous incidents and Safety Car periods limited the opportunities for further advancement. Her Race 3 result provided a positive conclusion to a difficult weekend.
Zoe Florescu Potolea showed encouraging pace, but was unable to translate that speed into race results. After finishing 28th in Race 1, the Romanian retired from Race 2, while she recovered to 16th in the heavily interrupted final race. Maria Germano Neto endured another challenging weekend in terms of results, although she continued to demonstrate progression behind the wheel, making up places in Race 3.
Fluxá arrived at Jerez looking to build on the top ten achieved at MotorLand Aragón, where she finally converted the pace she had shown during the opening rounds into her first Spanish F4 points of the season with an eighth-place finish. After a series of incidents and difficult circumstances had repeatedly prevented her from turning strong potential into results, the Campos Racing driver was aiming to rediscover that competitive pace and continue her progress at the fifth round of the championship.
Florescu meanwhile returned to the Spanish F4 field at Jerez after missing the previous round at Jarama due to a calendar clash with F1 Academy, where the Romanian instead made her debut in the all-female championship as a wildcard entry at Zandvoort. Back in Spanish F4 for the fifth round of the season, Florescu was looking to resume the progress of her rookie campaign after showing promising pace during the opening rounds.
Germano Neto also arrived at Jerez looking to build on a season in which she has continued to show flashes of speed despite the challenges of her rookie campaign. The Portuguese driver has frequently seen her progress interrupted by incidents and setbacks, with her personal-best Spanish F4 result being a 15th place at Aragon.
The first qualifying session of the Jerez weekend took place on Saturday morning and lasted 20 minutes, with the three female drivers all facing a difficult session as the red flag brought the running to an early conclusion. Fluxá initially moved into the top 10 with a 1:44.6, although the lap was subsequently deleted for track limits. Germano Neto's first timed effort was a 1:46.7 before she improved substantially to a 1:44.740, while Fluxá found further time with a 1:44.326. Florescu was also able to move into the same pace range with a 1:44.464.
With just two minutes remaining on the clock, however, Martinez went off and brought out the red flag. The session was not resumed, leaving the drivers without an opportunity to improve their positions. Fluxá therefore ended qualifying 21st, with Florescu 22nd and Neto 26th.
For the first race of the weekend, all three female drivers started within the top 30, with Fluxá and Florescu lining up 21st and 22nd respectively, while Neto started 29th.
Fluxá made the strongest getaway of the trio, moving up to 19th place on the opening lap, while Florescu and Neto initially lost ground, dropping to 25th and 33rd respectively. The field began to settle into a rhythm during the early stages and lap times started to improve, but the green-flag running was short-lived.
On lap three, Alibhai crashed head-on into the barriers at the exit of the final corner, prompting the Safety Car. The incident proved difficult to clear quickly, and after several minutes race control opted to display the red flag. Following a lengthy delay and a lap behind the Safety Car, the race finally resumed under green-flag conditions on lap seven.
By that stage, Fluxá had slipped back to 22nd, while both Florescu and Neto had gained one position. Fluxá subsequently concentrated on defending her position while also trying to attack the cars ahead, but she was unable to make further progress through the field.
Florescu, meanwhile, struggled to regain the rhythm she had shown earlier in the weekend. With eight minutes remaining, the Romanian had dropped to 26th, and by the 28-minute mark she had fallen further to 28th. Neto also lost ground during the closing stages and ultimately finished at the back of the field.
Sunday morning brought the second qualifying session, providing the drivers with another opportunity to improve their starting positions. Florescu immediately showed strong pace, moving into the top five after the opening sequence of laps with a 1:44.5. Neto initially struggled with track limits, having two laps deleted. Fluxá's first representative lap was a 1:44.6, putting her 20th, and she subsequently improved to a 1:44.5. The session nevertheless left Florescu with the best starting position of the three, while Fluxá and Neto faced another recovery drive from further down the grid.
The female drivers were more spread out across the starting grid for Race 2, with Florescu starting from 20th, Fluxá from 27th and Neto from 33rd.
Unfortunately, Florescu was unable to capitalise on her strong qualifying position. On the opening lap, she slid into the gravel while running in the pack and was forced to retire, bringing out the Safety Car while her car was recovered.
Fluxá, meanwhile, made another strong start and climbed to 25th, while Neto initially slipped back to 35th. The restart came with 20 minutes remaining, and Fluxá immediately resumed her progress, moving up to 22nd and then 21st with 16 minutes still on the clock.
Neto also began to find her rhythm after the restart, gaining five positions over the following five minutes. Her recovery was unfortunately cut short when an attempted attack went wrong after the back straight and she collided with Nakazato. The two cars became interlocked and were unable to continue, prompting another Safety Car period with 14 minutes remaining.
The second restart took place with seven minutes left on the clock. Fluxá briefly moved into 19th before settling into 20th, where she became involved in a battle with Karras. She remained under pressure for several laps before eventually having to concede the position with four minutes remaining.
With another difficult race affected by incidents and interruptions, Fluxá again emerged as the best-placed female driver in P20, while Florescu and Neto were both unable to convert their respective opportunities into finishes.
Race 3 offered the three drivers their most favourable starting positions of the weekend, with Florescu lining up 18th, Fluxá 19th and Neto 35th. Once again, Fluxá made the strongest start, immediately gaining three positions to move into 16th. Florescu lost ground at the start and dropped to 22nd after the opening lap, while Neto benefited from several minor incidents further back in the field to advance to 31st.
The race then suffered another interruption when Blascos was involved in a heavy accident and ended up upside down in the gravel with 19 minutes and 30 seconds remaining. The driver was able to climb out of the car and walk away unaided, but the severity and position of the accident prompted race control to immediately stop the race with a red flag.
Following the interruption, the Safety Car initially took to the circuit before the race was finally restarted with 13 minutes remaining. The green-flag running was again extremely brief, however, as Burnett collided with other cars during the restart, leaving all three involved vehicles stranded on track and prompting another Safety Car period.
The second restart took place with six minutes remaining, by which point the succession of incidents had allowed Fluxá to climb to 14th place and Florescu to 20th.
Once again, however, there was barely any opportunity for further racing. Less than two laps after the restart, another car crashed with four minutes remaining, forcing the race to finish behind the Safety Car. With no further green-flag running, there was no opportunity for the drivers to make additional changes to the order.
Fluxá therefore took the chequered flag in 14th place, then promoted to 12th post race, ending a challenging weekend on a positive note and securing her best result of the Jerez round - and her best since Aragon. Florescu finished 16th, while Germano Neto came home 24th.
The Spanish F4 Championship now moves to Navarra for the next round on October 9-11, where Florescu and Neto, in particular, will be looking to score their first points of the season there and make up for the bad luck experienced this weekend.
